Tom Petty

October 3rd, 2017, 6:36am by Sam Wang

This was the first Tom Petty song I loved.
So much bad news in the world. The biggest mass shooting in U.S. history. The rapid erosion of norms in our government’s institutions. Climate change-induced intensification of hurricanes, and the ensuing disaster in Puerto Rico. The post-apocalyptic imagery in the video above seems fitting.

However, there is a bright spot: U.S. science. Rosbash, Hall, and Young richly deserve their Nobel Prize for working out the genetics and molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms. Surely every one of you has an opinion about whether you got enough sleep last night. Circadian rhythms are a central feature of our lives, and are critical for health. Their work was done in a small fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and the basic principles all apply to us. This prize, for molecular neuroscience, is a pinnacle of basic research, one that was made possible by the greatness of American scientific establishment.

Today, the Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Weiss, Thorne, and Barish, for the discovery of gravitational waves. Again, a milestone in basic research.

Off to the Supreme Court, to see whether (statistical) science cuts any ice with them.